Teflon Trump’s rise in the polls makes second term more likely

Teflon Trump’s rise in the polls makes second term more likely

Divisions between conservatives and liberals in America are deepening fast, writes Dan O’Brien

Donald Trump (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)

August’s slower pace allows more time for reading and reflection. I’ve been reading and reflecting on Donald Trump’s America in preparation for a discussion tomorrow with Sean Spicer, former White House press secretary and holder of numerous roles in the Republican Party since the 1990s.

Much of the almost non-stop rolling news about and around Trump is noise. The brouhaha in recent days surrounding the departure of (yet another) White House staff member is an example of an event that generated a lot news coverage but that doesn’t mean much in the broader scheme of things.

Seeing the wood for the trees is not easy, but among the many notable aspects of Trump’s presidency is that despite the unprecedented scale of media coverage, which is mostly negative, his approval ratings have been more stable than some previous presidents. Nor have they slumped when coverage becomes particularly negative, as it did last month when he sided with the Russian president against US intelligence agencies on a Monday before doing a 180 degree U-turn 24 hours later.

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